Blog entries by David Wiley pertaining to writing, literature, journalism, as well as containing original poems and stories.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

The Curse of Fierabras - Part V

In case you didn't know, check out the new location of my blog over at Wordpress. In a few weeks I'll only be posting over there. Also, things like this serial novel are much easier to navigate over there with the links to each part along the top of the page.

Part V - The Conquest of the Emperor

“You
founded the Restoration?” Dante asks.

“Aye,
lad,” Jerek answers as he gets to his feet. “Do you remember what things were
like before the Emperor took control?”

Dante
shakes his head. He has heard stories from some of the villagers back home, but
he was too young to remember anything prior to the Emperor. “No, but I’ve heard
stories. It is hard to believe they were true.”

“About
how there was peace and prosperity?” Jerek asks, turning to gaze out the
window.

“Yeah,”
Dante says. “Are they true?”

“They
are true. Twenty years ago we were enjoying the longest stretch of peace and
prosperity that the seven kingdoms had ever seen. Roads were being built to
connect us all, speeding along commerce and boosting the economies of all the
kingdoms. Soldiers were fighting together as one unit to fend off the barbarian
hordes landing on the coast. The seven kings came together regularly to discuss
the future of our land.

“The
peace had lasted so long that people became lax in their security. Young men
wanted to become soldiers because it had become an easy job, requiring no
training or skill. The kings stopped traveling with fully armed escorts. It
became common to see foreigners in every major city and kingdom across the
land. City defenses became neglected as everyone poured their gold into other
profitable ventures.

“No
one expected things to change.”

Jerek
looks down at his feet, a beam of moonlight splashing across his face. He licks
his lips and turns toward Dante, a look of anger in his eyes. “The Emperor
conquered the kingdoms, one by one. He timed it when a massive barbarian fleet
landed on the shores, drawing away the only real army we had. He met minimal
resistance. Those who did stand in his way were either untrained or
out-of-practice.

“He
allowed no survivors to escape to warn the other kingdoms. The roads that we
had poured so much gold into allowed him to move from one to the next with
incredible speed. With each victory his army grew larger, and soon even the trained
army wouldn’t have stood a chance against him. Yet we tried to stop him,
outnumbered and weary from the battle with the barbarians.

“That
day we learned that the Emperor had discovered a dark magic that hadn’t been around
for a thousand years. He had learned the art of Necromancy, commanding an army
of the undead. Every soldier that died in battle that day became one of his
army. Brother fought against brother, and many found they could not strike a
fatal blow against a loved one, even one they knew to be dead.”

Jerek
kicks the bucket across the room. The water remaining in the bottom splashes
onto the stone wall, trickling down to the floor. Dante remains seated, trying
to process what he is hearing. If the Emperor commands the dead then there is
no chance of defeating him. There can be no war waged against him. The Emperor
would want a war, increasing his own army while diminishing the opposition.

“A
few of us managed to escape from the slaughter with our lives,” Jerek
continues. “We hid ourselves among the other six kingdoms, continuing to hang
onto the hope that someday we’d be able to strike back. Over the past twenty
years we have trained ourselves, and others, in the ancient warrior arts. While
the Emperor has gotten lax in his own defenses, entertaining himself with
diversions like this coliseum, we have been honing our skills and building our
own force.

“We’ve
watched family and friends get killed or taken away for no reason. We’ve seen
our people struggle to survive as the Emperor’s minions have caused our fields
and our forests to wither and die. We have stood by and watched the hope of
life get sucked out of every city and kingdom. We live our lives as slaves to a
tyrant who values no life beyond his own. But the time to strike back is
coming.”

“So
how did you end up in here?” Dante asks. Jerek sighs heavily and sits back down
across from his cellmate.

“I
was part of an espionage troupe scouting the capital. One of my men turned on
us and raised an alarm. My horse was shot as we were making our escape two
weeks ago. I’ve been down here ever since.”

Both
men fall silent. Dante’s mind races as he considers everything Jerek told him.
Some of the story fits with the rumors he had heard in his village, but a lot
of it was new information. He falls asleep and his dreams are filled with
hordes of undead chasing after him.